No More Hiding
by Tarafina
Summary: Oliver takes Hawkman’s words to heart and it’s time he stops hiding just how much he cares.


**Title**: No More Hiding  
**Category**: Absolute Justice//Smallville  
**Genre**: Drama/Romance  
**Ship**: Chloe/Oliver  
**Rating**: PG13  
**Word Count**: 1,152  
**Summary**: Oliver takes Hawkman's words to heart and it's time he stops hiding just how much he cares.

**_No More Hiding  
_**1/1

Throughout dinner, they laughed and the weight of the world didn't feel quite so heavy any longer. Food and wine were in success and friendship bloomed strong between the three of them. But as the hour grew late, it was time for them to part ways. They waved goodbye by to J'onn before he disappeared from sight, no use for a taxi when one had the ability to fly at will. Walking down the empty sidewalk next to him, Chloe was still smiling, her hands tucked in the pockets of her jeans.

"So tonight was fun," he said, glancing at her.

Lifting her chin, she caught his eyes. "Yeah…" Her brow furrowed. "Been awhile since I've done that."

He cocked a brow. "Had fun or gone out to dinner with a couple hero acquaintances?"

She chuckled. "Both, really."

"So what made you say yes now?" he wondered.

She frowned, looking up at him wonderingly.

With a sigh, he widened his eyes for added seriousness. "I'm nobody to point fingers, but I can't be the only the one who's noticed your attachment to the tower of late…"

Licking her lips, she looked away. "I'm hearing that a lot lately."

"We're worried."

"You were right before," she muttered, scowling. "You're nobody to point fingers."

She picked up her pace, putting distance between them, but his long legs crossed it easily. "Chloe…" Reaching for her, he touched her shoulder, asking her to slow down, to stop avoiding the obvious. "I was talking to Hawkman earlier…"

"In between making fun of each other?"

He grinned. "Yes…" Sobering, he added, "For a guy who's been running from his demons longer than I've been alive, he had some pretty good insight to me."

"And that was?"

"That I'm hiding…," he admitted simply. "From everybody I care about… Because I don't _want _them to know that I care."

Brows knit, she shook her head. "Why?"

"Why do you spend all your time looking after us rather than actually _being _with us? Because it's easier not to care than it is to admit a connection to anyone…" Shaking his head, he frowned. "Hawkman had a wife; a woman that he loved _desperately_. Somebody that made him look at life as just another moment, one where he didn't fear the end because it meant he'd _be _with her again…"

Quiet, she simply waited for him to continue.

"I never had that… Not with Tess _or_ Lois." He laughed cynically. "When I first got here, I was so certain that true love just didn't exist. And I found it with Lois, but it wasn't… _right_… So I screwed up and she moved on and when I was ready, I was too late."

Chloe bit her lip to keep from arguing.

"The thing is… what I had with her… I know that it's over and I know that it was _meant _to end… But that just means that I was wrong in the beginning." He grinned. "If a guy like Hawkman can find a soul mate, then what the hell am I doing?"

"Saving yourself a lifetime of heartbreak?" she muttered, rolling her eyes.

Stopping, he pointed at her. "See… _that _is why you and I are in the hider's category…"

Chloe was unfazed. "So what if I am? My romantic history speaks rather loudly for itself…"

"But you were hiding then too, weren't you?" He shook his head before she could interrupt. "Jimmy didn't know all of you, even in the end… And you couldn't tell him everything; maybe _some _things, but not all of it… And Davis… You were with him because you were trying to save both him _and _Clark, but he _still _didn't know you… Not the woman who plays mother hen to a group of heroes or the you that was infected with meteor rocks and terrified that she'd end up in Belle Reeve… He didn't know about your mom or your past with Lex or any of the stuff that you keep close to you… Because that wasn't meant for him. That was the real you, the you that hides behind this façade of normality for everybody else. And even Clark… your _best _friend… If he'd known you, he wouldn't have left you and he wouldn't still think that you and he were on the same page… You're the 'justice at any cost' type of person, Chloe, and he's the 'always another way' guy…" Licking his lips, he sighed. "So if the real you was involved, if she came out of the tower and she was free and honest… maybe _she _could have a chance at all of it… at that elusive happily ever after."

Mouth wobbling, she didn't know whether to glare at him or turn her eyes away as they burned with conviction. "So that's it, huh?" she asked, her voice a raspy whisper of emotion. "I bare soul and lay down arms and love comes knocking?" she scoffed.

"Look… I can't tell you what to do or who to be… But I _can _tell you what I know… The you that I've known all this time, she has a lot more to offer than the you everybody else knows… You're jaded and scared and you've lost a lot of hope for humanity… But still, you stick by a team of rough heroes that have a lot of work ahead of them if they ever want to be _half _the family the JSA were… You're smart and beautiful but you're absolutely sure that any guy you like is going to look you over for the next Lois Lane or Lana Lang or whoever… So you build your walls and you use your snark as a weapon. But I like that… I like that you keep me on my toes, even when you're knocking my feet out from beneath me and that you never hold back when you have something to say. You treat me like an equal because you _are _my equal and you won't have it any other way…" He smiled warmly. "So you can hide if you want to, but I won't any more… and if you wanna join me up here in this dark world where you can get hurt, emotionally and physically, then my hand's out, Sidekick… Any time your willing, we can walk this path together…"

And he started moving, walking down that dark sidewalk once more, half-smiling as the jackassery of his past was just that. It was time he opened up and let the people that mattered know the truth of him; that he really did care. And he hoped, more than the rest, that the woman behind him would get that first.

It was seconds, maybe minutes, but then he felt it. Her hand tucked in his, holding on and letting go. And he smiled; didn't say a word. This would be the beginning – no more hiding.


End file.
